A survey this afternoon showed that US consumer confidence slipped in July after a big gain in the previous month as petrol pump prices reached new highs.
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index for July fell to 103.2 in July from a revised 106.2 in June, which was the
highest level in three years. Economists had been expecting the index to rise to 106.2 in July.
Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center, played down the decline in the index as 'not cause for concern'.
'The overall state of the economy remains healthy and consumers' outlook suggests no storm clouds on the short-term horizon,' she said in a statement. The proportion of consumers expecting their incomes to improve in the six months ahead fell to 18.6% from 19.9%.
